Around 11:30 pm, a strong smell of hydrocarbons was indicated by residents living near a petroleum depot located along the banks of the Seine River immediately after the pipeline delivery of 2,640 m³ of unleaded gasoline. Arriving on-site at midnight,[...]
During the paint fabrication process, a tank containing a mix of minium (red lead) and glycerophthalic resin exploded at 11 pm. The ensuing fire destroyed 2 workshops and both the research and control laboratories; 170 employees were in technical unemployment.[...]
Fire broke out in a low-pressure hydrogenation unit at a chemical plant. The unit's fire detectors sounded the alarm while the 1st process phase (hydrogenation of phenylacetylcarbinol with benzylamine in an isopropyl alcohol solution using a catalyst) was ongoing. An[...]
At a 40-ha chemical facility located on the outskirts of an urban area, the safety disc set at 1.5 bar on a 15.2-m3 reactor burst in a plant working with formo-phenolic resins used for glues applied to agglomerated material. The[...]
The number of casualties resulting from the Florrifoux silo explosions is high: 5 dead and 4 injured. Debris were scattered over a 100-m radius, windows were broken and damages to homes were observed as far as 300 m away. This[...]
Around 11:50 am, two major explosions shook a fireworks production facility. Onsite storage had been authorised for some 10 tonnes of fireworks classified for transport in Division 1.3 or 1.4, in two buildings located 20 m apart, one of which[...]
Five tons of liquid propane leak occurred during transferring from a tank car to a propane sphere. The leak was caused by a malfunctioning rupture unit on a loading arm in which only 2 of the 3 rupture blades ruptured.[...]
At 9:45 am, a vehicle transporting nearly 800 kg of explosives exploded while making a U-turn on a company's premises within an industrial park where it had taken a wrong turn. The lorry, specially equipped to transport up to 5[...]
Within a refinery storage zone, the shell of a fragile 15,000-m³ tank (at the end of its filling cycle) containing 13,500 m³ of HTS residue (at 130°C) split open. The flow of HC then destroyed two other tanks (15,000 m³[...]
The summary of this accident has not yet been translated. In the meantime, please refer to the French summary : Une émission de 3,5 t de CVM a lieu sur un site chimique fabricant du PVC. La chaîne Poly III[...]